


In Which the Nightingale is Turned

by DoctorTrekLock



Series: AU-gust 2020 [14]
Category: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: Gen, Vampire AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorTrekLock/pseuds/DoctorTrekLock
Summary: The first thing that happened was that Nightingale tried to get me to stake him.Actually that was the second thing. The first thing that happened was that Nightingale swore a blue streak, and I learned a whole bunch of new words from the ‘40s.Then Nightingale tried to get me to stake him.
Series: AU-gust 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870924
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	In Which the Nightingale is Turned

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted August 14, 2020 on [Tumblr](https://doctortreklock.tumblr.com/post/626472422913212416/au-gust-14-vampire-au)

The first thing that happened was that Nightingale tried to get me to stake him.

Actually that was the second thing. The first thing that happened was that Nightingale swore a blue streak, and I learned a whole bunch of new words from the ‘40s.

Then Nightingale tried to get me to stake him. Thankfully, I quickly disabused him of the notion, mostly through talking over him in a slightly louder voice and making points such as 1) I’m only half-trained at best, 2) there’s no way the Agreements in place are going to hold up without the Nightingale, leaving London and most of Britain in upheaval, 3) Nightingale hadn’t even _started_ draining the life force out of everything around him, so 4) we just discovered a new kind of vampire, and that was neat, wasn’t it?

It was around that point in the argument that Nightingale gave up, because leaving a half-trained apprentice might be one thing, but a half-trained apprentice who was more interested in Science than Magic was apparently too much for even his senses of duty and dramatics to withstand.

“All right,” Nightingale conceded with a huff. “Fine. We’re going to need to see Abdul then.”

Luckily for us, University College Hospital is basically next door to the Folly, and even closer from the Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. So we left behind the pile of dust and wooden stake that had gotten us into this mess and quickly headed over to the hospital.

I gave Walid a quick call, just to see if he was free, and he said he was in his office, so we went straight there instead of to the morgue. It was a quick visit. Walid was fascinated by our story and wanted to start on some tests right away, but he had a pathology class he had to get to, so Nightingale promised he’d be back later and Walid could take as much blood as he wanted.

“Will you keep producing new blood cells, or will it need to be replenished?” I wondered aloud.

Nightingale looked stricken, so I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the trip back to the Folly.

On the walk back, I kept an eye on Nightingale and started mentally cataloging a list of...symptoms? Was that even the right word? He didn’t cast a shadow, that was the biggest one. And when I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the huge glass windows on Euston Road, I looked like I was walking alone.

Then we found the biggest drawback yet. “What’s wrong, sir?” I asked when we stopped on the doorstep of the Folly. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Nightingale said after too long of a pause. “But I seem to be incapable of crossing the threshold.”

That stopped me for a moment. “Okay,” I said. “Let me try something.” I stepped past him into the Folly and turned to look at him. “Come in, sir.”

Nightingale gave me an unamused look, but it seemed to work, since he strode past me into the Folly and vanished up the stairs before I could follow.

Molly appeared in the foyer, and her frown indicated she had also figured out something was wrong with Nightingale.

“He got bit,” I told her. “Might have been a vampire. He doesn’t cast shadows anymore, and it might be a good idea to serve blood sausage for dinner.”

She gave me a sharp look and vanished as suddenly as she had arrived.

Not being able to enter someone’s house without an invitation was going to be a not inconsiderable issue, considering we worked as coppers and relied on the element of surprise to keep the more dangerous practitioners we met from blowing us up before we could arrest them.

I wondered what other myths might hold true and realized that the inability to cross running water might end up being a big sticking point as well.

Literally, it would be a problem, considering there were how many waterways in London? Not to mention the fact that the city itself was neatly bisected by the Thames.

Metaphorically, if Nightingale couldn’t cross running water, it was going to make negotiations with the Rivers much more interesting.

I sighed and ran my hands over my face. When I dropped them, I jumped a little in surprise, because apparently Nightingale had picked up the same silent movement as Molly.

Which just left me as the only person in the Folly who would end up waking everyone when I snuck in at half two. The marble floors might be glamorous, but they were echoey as hell. Although, did Nightingale sleep anymore? I had my suspicions Molly didn’t.

Nightingale looked at me and didn’t blink. “We’re going to the library,” he announced. “And we are scouring every book there until we can find out what happened and how to reverse it.”

I just nodded. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do when that proved impossible, because for all the Hollywood flicks I’d seen, there didn’t seem to be much in the way of cures for vampirism, but I wasn’t going to bring it up.

“Good,” Nightingale said firmly. “Let’s go.”


End file.
